"In all these years, it never failed to amaze him, this magnificent dappled sea of bone marrow, ever regenerating and replenishing itself in an ongoing cycle that made life possible---red cells that carried oxygen to the tissues, white cells that fought off infection, and platelets that made the blood clot."
-Dr. Matteo Crespi's thinking, from the novel
I would have never guessed the significance of the title as shown in the quote above. I was thinking---island, sailing, something to do with the ocean. Not even close! An Amazon First Reads selection, the book was a good choice. I finished it in a few days so I'd call it a page-turner. My rating: 4.
In this novel we are introduced to several characters who are suffering in some way. The most central character is Luca Taviano, who at age 9 is diagnosed with leukemia and the prognosis is grim in 1992. He resides with his grandparents in in a small town in Italy. Nina Vocelli becomes Luca's nurse; she is hurting from a romantic rejection and, I believe, low self-esteem partly due to a facial birthmark. The reader then meets Rabbi Joseph Neiman of Brooklyn, NY, who, in his 50's, is having a crisis of faith, feeling he is missing something in his life. Even Luca's grandfather, Nonno, is plagued by guilt from memories of the past and lies he has told. It is heart-warming how some of these folks save others and, in turn, are saved themselves. I loved this quote from the Babylonian Talmud used by Samuel, the rabbi's son, in his bar mitzvah speech: "Whoever destroys a single life is as guilty as if he had destroyed the whole world; and whoever rescues a single life earns as much merit as though he had rescued the entire world."
The plot unfolds when a bone marrow donor is found, leading to research into Luca's background. (Luca's father, Paolo, was adopted but both he and Luca's mother died in a car accident years before.) I will leave it at that...no spoilers!
I was struck by the fact that Rabbi Joseph met regularly with friends, Father Lazzaro and Imam Hussein, for conversation. It reminded me of "Friends talking Faith with the Three Wise Guys" that used to air on Orlando public radio. The friends were a Christian pastor, a rabbi and an imam.
It was cool that Luca's birthday was March 11, same as mine! For his 10th birthday, he got a horse. I would probably have loved to have a horse when I was 10!
The author is also a medical doctor. It makes sense! Some of the medical jargon was over my head, for sure!
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